Amid Passing Things: Life, Prayer, and Relationship with God

by Jeremiah Myriam Shryock, Murray Bodo (Foreword by)

Overview

Amid Passing Things is a collection of meditations on all the ways God enters our lives, even when we're unaware. Based on his own life experiences, Franciscan friar Jeremiah Shryock offers both struggles and joys that come in a life that's consciously encountering God—the Holy One all around us—not in some far-off place, but right here and now in this life, amid passing things.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781640602229
Publisher:	Paraclete Press
Publication date:	10/03/2019
Sold by:	INDEPENDENT PUB GROUP - EPUB - EBKS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	144
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	17 - 18 Years

About the Author

Fr. Jeremiah Myriam Shryock CFR, entered the Community of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal in 2002. He was ordained a priest at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City by Cardinal Timothy Dolan in 2011 and several years later completed studies in spiritual direction at Our Lady of Divine Providence school of spiritual direction in Clearwater, FL. Throughout his time as a Franciscan he has participated in his community's charism of hands-on work with the poor and preaching, while also directing and preaching retreats and serving as a spiritual director. Since July 2021 he has been living at the Monastery of Bethlehem in Livingston Manor, NY where he serves as a chaplain to the nuns and lives as a hermit. Fr. Jeremiah is the author of Amid Passing Things: Life, Prayer, and Relationship With God and Mary and the Interior Life. For further information visit: fatherjeremiah.com
 

Table of Contents

Foreword 8

Introduction 11

1 The Missing Piece 13

2 Silence: Our Greatest Teacher 17

3 Awakening 21

4 The Marian Posture 24

5 Something More: A Vocation Story 28

6 Surprised By Grace 33

7 Not Enough 37

8 Encountering Weakness 40

9 Martha's Gift 43

10 The One Thing 46

11 Original Desire 49

12 Forty Days (Before) 52

13 Heroic Love 55

14 Authenticity 58

15 Facing Death 62

16 The Work of God 65

17 The Woman Knitting in the Chapel 69

18 Learning to Pray 72

19 Letting Go 75

20 Embarrassments 78

21 Suffering Revisited 81

22 The Other Who Loves Us 84

23 Breathing 89

24 A Different Journey 92

25 Mistaken Identity 96

26 Seeing Lisa 100

27 Unpacking 104

28 Beyond Death 108

29 The Contemplative Mind 111

30 An Unusual Christmas 114

31 Becoming Present 119

32 Listening 122

33 Post-Retreat Depression 125

34 Waking Up 129

36 A Path of Intimacy 132

37 Forty Days (After) 135

38 Bringing it to Completion 139

Acknowledgments 143

About the Author 143

Editorial Reviews

Amid Passing Things is Father Jeremiah’s story, but it is also the story of anyone who has found in God the love he or she has been looking for.” —Murray Bodo, OFM, from the Foreword
 
“Amid Passing Things is a book as warm as it is wise. Each short chapter is a personal invitation to experience the life of faith in the middle of daily life, in the places where God comes to meet us. Fr. Jeremiah shows how to be open to these encounters in profound, simple ways.” —J. Brent Bill, author of Holy Silence and Beauty, Truth, Love, Life
 
“Friar Jeremiah’s Amid Passing Things is a touching spiritual autobiography written in short chapters like personal letters to a dear friend: honest, informal, caring, and wise. Very Franciscan.” —Robert J. Kiely, Donald P. and Katherine B. Loker Professor of English, Emeritus at Harvard University; author of Fair Jesus: The Gospel According to Italian Painters 1300-1650
 
“As a son of Francis of Assisi, Fr. Jeremiah writes with the saint’s ‘spirit of prayer and devotion.’ He insightfully notes how ordinary experiences give cause to pause and ponder one’s relationship with God: taking a cross-country road trip, watching a woman knit in chapel, celebrating a Christmas Eve Eucharist in a parent’s home, hearing about a twenty-three-year-old friend’s death from cancer. Amid Passing Things highlights how God’s grace touches us right here, right now, in the most surprising of ways. This is Franciscan spirituality at its finest!” —Albert Haase, OFM, author of Becoming an Ordinary Mystic: Spirituality for the Rest of Us
 
“Father Jeremiah’s humble and enjoyable storytelling reminds us of the beauty and grace that is present with us as we journey through life. In an open, honest, and loving way he invites us to reflect on his stories—and the stories from our own lives—to see the goodness of God, who is with us always.” —Dr. Lisa Petronis, Clinical Psychologist, Marriage and Family Therapist
 
“Everything is passing fast! How can we live towards the realities of this world so that they guide us toward the world to come instead of becoming roadblocks? Creation, friends, places, work and people can all help us toward God or block our way to him. In concise and candid personal essays Fr. Jeremiah not only allows us to learn from his experiences but models a way for each of us in our particular situations to live amid passing things with our hearts set on what lasts forever.” —Isaac Slater, OCSO, Abbey of the Genesee, author of Surpassing Pleasure
 
“Reading this book, you cannot help but come to know something of God, while at the same time discovering how intimately he knows you.” —Sr. Virginia Joy, SV, Archdiocese of New York Director of Respect Life

From the Publisher